Here Comes the Road Trip
The Red Sox open up a 10 game road trip tonight, and I don’t expect it to go to well. Hopefully I’ll be proven wrong, but even though we are squaring off against the Devil Rays, its Scott Kazmir taking the mound tonight. He is a young lefthander, not a lot unlike Joe Sauders yesterday (who beat the Sox for the second straight time he faced them) and all the other pitchers who shut them down. Think Ted Lilly when he was in the AL, Lenny Dinardo earlier this year and the list goes on from there. At least we aren’t playing Texas again and won’t have to suffer through a game against Kason Gabbard!
The lead has slipped to 4 games since it was at 6 between games on Friday. Things seemed so much brighter then! Though Eric Gagne pitched in 2 of the next 3 games, and of course, we lost both games in which he appeared. Last night may not have been his fault, but this is a disturbing trend for a guy who you are expecting to be a closer.
But the good news is that the new guys are looking good. Well, new guys not counting Kevin Cash who will be a waste of space until Douggie comes back. Good luck to him tonight against the knuckleball - I doubt he will preserve his “nobody has stolen against me” streak tonight.
Clay Bucholtz looked great in his first start, from warming up in the bullpen to his last pitch in the 6th inning. He was making the Angels looks foolish with his change up, hitting 94 mph on the stadium scoreboard, and buchholtzed a few guys knees with his curveball.
Bobby Kielty debuted well also, getting two hits off the lefty starter (which is the reason he is here) and making a great catch in the first inning, taking 2 runs away from the Angels even though it turned out they didn’t need them anyway.
In the end, it will probably be neck and neck with the Sox and the Yankees for the next week and it will come down to the big showdown in the Bronx that we have all been waiting for. I say bring it on Yankees - I have confidence that the Sox are the better team and will prevail in the end.
Stumble it!